Kino Lorber Releases Le Pont du Nord

Cole Smithey

Kino Lorber Releases Le Pont du Nord,
a rarely-seen classic by acclaimed French New Wave filmmaker Jacques Rivette

Available on Blu-ray & DVD February 17th

One of Rivette's greatest works, this mysterious, surreal puzzle film starring Bulle Ogier, Pascale Ogier and Pierre Clementi will be released on Blu-ray & DVD on February 17th packed with bonus features including a booklet, original written and visual essays and more

"One of the year's ten best. A loose, funny, largely improvised film in the form of a game." – Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

"Renders the ordinary dreamlike…"
– J. Hoberman, Blouin ArtInfo

"Magnificent." – Melissa Anderson, Artforum

"Watching the film now, on the occasion of its first release in U.S. theaters, it seems more obvious than ever how much Rivette has influenced a subsequent generation of filmmakers – Spike Jonze, Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry – and expanded our sense of the possible."
– Scott Foundas, Village Voice

NEW YORK, NY – JANUARY 21, 2015 - Kino Lorber is proud to announce the Blu-ray and DVD release of LE PONT DU NORD, an enigmatic and entrancing cinematic puzzle directed by award-winning filmmaker and French New Wave innovator Jacques Rivette (Celine and Julie Go Boating). Set in Paris, the luminously-photographed film centers around Marie and Baptiste (played by Bulle Ogier and her daughter Pascale Ogier) who follow Marie's ex-lover (Pierre Clementi) around a labyrinthine Paris on a surreal and mysterious journey that leads them from one clue to another but provides no clear answers.

Set to street on February 17, LE PONT DU NORD comes to Blu-ray (SRP: $29.95) and DVD (SRP: $24.95) packed with special features, including a booklet with the original press notes and an essay by Dennis Lim, "Mapping LE PONT DU NORD", an image-essay by Roland-François Lack, and "Composites", a video-essay by Gina Telaroli.

Originally released in 1981, this important film from one of the leading directors in world cinema had its US Theatrical Premiere release by The Film Desk, opening at BAM in March 2013 to great acclaim before going on to play in other key national markets.

SYNOPSIS:

LE PONT DU NORD (1981) is an entrancing puzzle film with the city of Paris as a continually shifting game board. It is one of director Jacques Rivette's most mysterious and haunting works, a dark companion piece to Celine and Julie Go Boating (1974).

Marie (Bulle Ogier, L'amour Fou, Maitresse) has just been released from prison, and encounters the paranoid loner Baptiste (Pascale Ogier, Full Moon in Paris). They follow Marie's ex-lover Julien (Pierre Clementi) and his talismanic briefcase as Paris begins to open up to them as a series of enigmatic clues. The city is a labyrinth of possibilities but no certainties, a place of fantastical fables (here be dragons) and the brute realities of the street.

Shot on luminous 16mm by the great cinematographers William Lubtchansky (Shoah, Every Man for Himself, Regular Lovers) and Caroline Champetier (I Can No Longer Hear the Guitar), LE PONT DU NORD is surreal, gorgeous, and heartbreaking, and is surely one of Rivette's greatest works.

BONUS FEATURES:
Booklet with Original Press Notes and Essay by Dennis Lim
Mapping LE PONT DU NORD, an image-essay by Roland-François Lack
COMPOSITES, a video-essay by Gina Telaroli

LE PONT DU NORD

Director: Jacques Rivette

Written by Bulle Ogier, Pascale Ogier, Suzanne Schiffman and Jacques Rivette
Photographed by William Lubtchansky, Caroline Champetier, Matthieu Schiffman
Starring Bulle Ogier, Pascale Ogier, Pierre Clementi, Jean-Francois Stevenin

France/1981/1.37:1/128 minutes/2.0 Stereo/Color
French with Optional English Subtitles

Licensed from The Film Desk